Founder of Dilmah Tea dies aged 93

SINGAPORE: The founder of Ceylon tea brand Dilmah, Merrill J Fernando, died aged 93 on Thursday (Jul 20) morning, the company said in a Facebook post. 

Mr Fernando, who founded Dilmah in 1985, died in Sri Lankan capital Colombo surrounded by his sons and grandchildren. 

“The visionary founder of Dilmah Ceylon Tea Company’s greatness was in his invincible faith, his integrity and love for tea and family,” said the company. 

It added that Mr Fernando was a “disrupter whose mission was simply for his passion to make lives better for other people”. 

Dilhan C Fernando, the founder’s son and chief executive officer of Dilmah, said in an interview last year that his father was “in effect, the original disrupter”.

“He was the first tea grower to overcome the economic colonialism that we still suffered with because our teas until the 1980s, were shipped in bulk to the United Kingdom, United States and so on,” he said.